After the death of the TimuridShahRukh in 850/1447 he took advantage of the political confusion to invade Transoxania, though he was unable to establish himself there.

If the shah's loss of personal status was as serious as is sometimes maintained, one might have expected the Safawid state to have collapsed in the aftermath of the Ottoman victory, but in fact nothing of the sort occurred.

The position of the Safawid shah, a ruler who claimed descent from the imams and regarded himself- and was officially regarded - as their representative on earth, was not one that could easily be reconciled with Twelver Shi'i theology and law.

This cultural rebirth had a double character; on one hand, there was a renewal of Persian civilization and art (distinguished by extensive adaptations from the Chinese), and on the other, an original national literature in the Turk-Jagatai language, which borrowed from Persian sources.

Shah Jahan fancied himself practically a re-incarnation of Timur, having supposedly been born, like his ancestor, during the con unction of Venus and jupiter (Shah Jahan's horoscope, unfortunately, was off by several months).

Timurid princes and pretenders often claimed authority in the border regions, and the nature of Timurid prestige was such that such claims often gained local support.

Shah Jahan, striving to instil trust in Nazr Muhammad while advancing on the latter's territory, refers to him in his letters as 'the noblest of the dynasty of Chinghis Khan'.

Timurid art forged a new aesthetic by linking the cultural traditions of the many lands they conquered with their own Turkic origins.

The 40-year rule of Timur’s son, ShahRukh, a devout Muslim and a man of peace, saw the transformation of the restless nomad empire into an orthodox Sunni Muslim state with Herat, in western Afghanistan, as its capital.

Even after the collapse of the Timurid Empire, the faience mosaic and blue tiles that were its hallmark continued to exert strong influence on later flowerings of ceramic art in Iran and Turkey.

The Iranization of the court under al Mansur was initiated and carried on by a dynasty of administrators (wazirs or viziers) known as the Barmecides (Barmakids), who hailed from Balkh (Afghanistan) and were possibly originally Buddhists.

ShahRukh, Timur's most competent heir, tried on various occasions to defeat the Karakoyunlu, but in 1435 he was forced to recognize their leader, Jahan Shah, as lord of Tabriz (Azerbaijan), though not of Baghdad, which had fallen under Egyptian political influence.

Jahan Shah went on the warpath again but in 1467 was surprised, defeated, and killed by Uzun Hasan, leader of the Akkoyunlu, former allies of Timur.

The rump of Seljuq territory is Iraq, where they remained in power as the Khwarazm Shahs conquer the rest of Persia.

The founder of the dynasty, Ismail I, as head of the Sufis of Ardabil, won enough support from the local Turkmens and other disaffected heterodox tribes to enable him to capture Tabriz from Ak Koyunlu / Ak Qoyun, an Uzbek confederation [otherwise known as the White Sheep Emirate].

By May of the next year he was shah of Iran (Iran Chamber.com, with additions by Anar R Guliyev).

His youngest son, Shahrukh (ShahRukh) eventually reunited the kingdom, which was again divided between his sons Ulughbeg and Ibrahim Sultan.

Since the Mughals were direct heirs to the Timurids, the sustaining element of their architecture, especially during the initial phase, was Timurid....

A fact that is not generally recognized is that essential ideas of Timurid architecture, such as the perfect symmetry of plan reflected consistently in the elevations, as well as complex vault patterns, came to fruition much more in Mughal architecture than in Safawid Iran, which was also heir to the same tradition.

Shah Ismail (1487-1524) founded the dymasty at a time when the Mongol Timuriddynasty had declined.

The Safavid dynasty was named in honor of Sheikh Safi-od-Din of Ardabil, an ancestor of Shah Ismail and spiritual insiration for the Safavid Sufi order which was founded in 1301.

While the Safavid dynasty was of Iranian origin, they found support for their movement from the Shi'ite Turkoman tribesmen outside of central Persia, primarily from Anatolia, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, and the Armenian highlands.

histclo.com /chron/me/persia/me-per.html (2502 words)

The Timurids(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)

Legend has it that the tomb of Shahshahan was built by Muhammad bin-Baysunghur in memory of Sheikh 'Ala Al-Din Muhammad who in turn was descended from the third Imam of the Shi'ite, the grandson of the prophet, Al-Hussein.

After ShahRukh's death in 1447, a further period of instability followed but by 1449 Muhammad bin- Baysunghur had regained control of western Iran and Isfahan.

ShahRukh's son, Ulugh Begh, a patron of astronomers, had ruled in Samarkand, until his death at the hands of his own son in 1451.

The TurkicTimurid Empire (1370–1506) was founded by Timur (ruled 1370–1405), who conquered much of central and southwest Asia, and it was built up by his descendents (see Timuriddynasty).

Ulugh Beg, ShahRukh's heir and only surviving son, was killed by his son 'Abd al-Latif in 1449.

The power of dynasty in Central Asia finally came to an end with the advent of the Turkic tribe Uzbeks from the north.

c10-ss-1-lb.cnet.com /reference/Timurid_Empire (338 words)

Histroy of Iran(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)

The most notable feature of the new Timurid style (although derived from the earlier Ilkhan period) is a new conception of space.

Relatively little high quality metalwork has survived from the Timuriddynasty, though again miniatures of the period (whose obsessive detail makes them an excellent guide to contemporary objects) show that ewers with long curved spouts were developed at this time.

However, it is certain that the Timuridcapitals (Mashad and Herat in Khurassan, Bukhara and Samarkand in Central Asia) possessed large factories, where not only the magnificent tiles that decorated buildings of the period were produced, but also pottery.

As Timurid power in Transoxiana faltered after the deaths of ShahRukh and Ulugh Beg, the city ceased to be as important as it had been.

Interestingly enough, one of the principle Timurid builders was Gawhar Shad, ShahRukh's wife, who was responsible for a magnificent mosque at Meshed (built between 1405 and 1418) and a mosque-madrasah-mausoleum complex in Herat (1417-1437).

However, the Timurids still continued to build in their founder's capital, especially Ulugh Beg, who was governor of the city under his father, ShahRukh.

In the time of ShahRukh and Oleg Begh the art of miniature reached such a degree of perfection that it served as a model for all subsequent schools of painting in Persia.

The first Herat miniatures were in form, a more perfect version of the early Timurid style, which had blossomed at the beginning of the century.

Their style is distinguished by sumptuous colours, an almost incredible precision of detail, perfect unity of composition, striking individual characterisation of the human figure, and an utmost sensibility in conveying atmosphere from the solemn to the playfulness of narrative painting.